Ciara Cassidy
|spouse=Joel Dunns (husband) }}Ciara Cassidy (born 26 August 1980) (CAS: Series 33, Episode 13) is a female resident of Holby. In March 2018, she met Dylan Keogh at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. (CAS: Series 32, Episode 26) Biography In March 2018, Ciara met Dylan at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and tried to persuade him to go for a drink with her. Dylan turned her down, prompting her to take fellow alcoholic Joseph with her to the pub. The following morning, she was horrified to discover that Joseph had suffered a stroke. After calling for an ambulance, they were both taken to the ED. Dylan tried to save Joseph but was forced to let him go once all attempts at resuscitation proved fruitless. Ciara was devastated and, believing that Dylan was incompetent due to his alcoholism, disclosed his addiction to his colleagues. Later, Dylan found Ciara in The Hope & Anchor and convinced her to seek treatment for her alcoholism. (CAS: Series 32, Episode 26) In July, Ciara helped a young mother named Amy to go cold turkey so she could retain custody of her son. However, Amy struggled to fight her addiction and resorted to drinking methylated spirits. At the ED, Ciara specifically asked Dylan to treat her. When he found her accompanying Amy, he assumed that her methanol poisoning was Ciara's fault and asked her to wait in the relatives' room. After he found her outside experiencing DTs, he took her into the department and promised to find her help with her alcoholism. David informed him that there was nobody available to help her, so Dylan told him to take her off the system. Later, she had a withdrawal seizure, and Dylan was forced to put her back on the system. Once she stabilised, Dylan agreed to look after her dog Bacchus while she received treatment. He subsequently decided to become her AA sponsor. (CAS: Series 33, Episode 2) The following month, after they walked Dervla and Bacchus together, they shared a passionate kiss and decided to spend the night together. (CAS: Series 33, Episode 3) : Series 33, Episode 5)]] In September, Ciara went to a pub and collapsed as she left. The following day, Dylan became concerned when she didn't turn up to an AA meeting. Later, she was admitted to the ED, and David didn't inform Dylan of her presence. However, she soon found him, and David told him that he believed that she had been drinking. When Dylan asked her where she was the previous night, she became frustrated and left. Once her blood test results came back and showed no traces of alcohol, Dylan and David searched for her and found her unresponsive in The Hope & Anchor. After she was treated, she discharged herself and left Dylan a farewell note. That afternoon, Dylan went to her house to try to make amendments, but he was saddened when he was greeted by her husband Joel. (CAS: Series 33, Episode 5) The following week, Ciara began experiencing abdominal pains and was admitted to the ED. Dylan begrudgingly agreed to treat her and, after she described her symptoms to him, he ordered David to run a pregnancy test; it came back positive. Once she heard the news, she asked Dylan not to tell Joel since it wasn't his child. However, she began to vaginally bleed, and Dylan solemnly told her that he believed that she was suffering from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. He successfully resuscitated her after she began to rapidly deteriorate, and Joel thanked him for saving her life. In a side room, Ciara explained to Dylan that she started living with Joel again because she was lonely. Dylan told her that, as much as he wanted to be with her, he believed that their relationship was toxic and decided to break up with her. Shortly after, Joel returned and gave her alcohol. After a change of heart, Dylan told her in vague terms that he wanted to give their relationship another go, but she assured him that his initial decision was the right one. (CAS: Series 33, Episode 6) : Series 33, Episode 10)]] In October, Ciara collapsed at her home and injured herself on broken glass. Joel took her to the ED and asked Dylan to treat her. He planned to have her discharged as soon as possible, but she collapsed again, leading her to believe that she had exacerbated her liver damage by drinking. However, her obs showed that she had an infection that was unrelated to her liver. After she asked Joel to get her a drink, she showed Dylan and Louise Tyler a cyst on her leg. Dylan drained the abscess, and Ciara told him that Joel knew something was wrong. He asked her if Joel was responsible for her injury, and she insisted that she hurt herself accidentally. Sceptical, Dylan asked for her GP's notes, but Connie Beauchamp ordered him to discharge her. After realising that Joel had laced her drink with alcohol, in the lift, he told her that they could make their relationship work and implored her not to go home with Joel. They shared a kiss, and Ciara asked him if she could go home with him. When he said she couldn't, she decided to leave with Joel, leaving Dylan devastated. At their house, after finding out about her ectopic pregnancy, Joel confronted her and, in a fit of rage, slapped her. As she begged her for forgiveness, she assured him that it was her fault. (CAS: Series 33, Episode 10) In November, at breakfast, Ciara started to break down, and Joel interpreted her crying as a lack of appreciation of his generosity and berated her for her infidelity. When Dylan tried to call her, and she promised to tell Dylan that she had moved on, Joel lost his temper and viciously attacked her. Dylan heard the abuser on the other end of the line and got paramedics Jan Jenning and Ruby Spark and the police to go to their house. Both Ciara and Joel asserted that they only had an argument, but Ciara soon started to have a panic attack. Jan and Ruby took Ciara to the ED, and Joel followed them in his car. At the hospital, Dylan tried to ask Ciara if she was alright, but she told him to go away. While helping her dress herself, nurse Robyn Miller found a large bruise on Ciara's back and informed Connie, who subsequently called in an IDSVA. Connie took Ciara to the IDSVA, and the latter began to admit that they were being abused. However, Dylan interrupted to convince Ciara that she didn't deserve Joel's abuse, resulting in her ending the meeting and being sent back to cubicles. There, Joel began to aggressively kiss Ciara. Uncomfortable, she decided to go to the women's toilets, and David and Jacob Masters prevented Joel from following her. Dylan found Ciara and told her that he loved her. After they embraced each other, with Dylan's support, Ciara told Joel that their relationship was over. Dylan told her that it was likely that she would have to go to a women's refuge, but she asked him if she could stay with him instead. He agreed, and the two left the hospital in Dylan's car. On their way to the houseboat, Joel pursued them and rammed his car into Dylan's, trying to get him to pull over. As they drove around a corner, Joel lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a parked car. As Dylan and Ciara looked back, they unintentionally drove straight into an approaching van. (CAS: Series 33, Episode 13) : Series 33, Episode 14)]] After the crash, Dylan gave Ciara money for a taxi, and she returned to her home to collect her belongings. Realising that Joel would take his frustration out on him, she took Bacchus and left to go to the houseboat. There, she waited for Dylan to return, but, when he didn't appear, she decided to call for a taxi and go to Holby International Airport. Later, Dylan returned, and Ciara told him what she planned to do. She asked him to look after Bacchus while she was out of the country and promised him that it wasn't the end. After sharing one final kiss, she left for the airport. (CAS: Series 33, Episode 14) She flew to Germany, and, in December, she sent Dylan a Christmas card. (CAS: Series 33, Episode 17) Behind the scenes Belinda Stewart-Wilson initially portrayed Ciara for one episode of Casualty in March 2018. She later reprised her role as Ciara in August 2018 as part of a storyline involving Dylan Keogh. References Category:Characters Category:Female characters